


Večno Noč

by moomoomeep



Series: Penny Dreadful [1]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Explicit Language, Horror, Multi, Romance, Supernatural Elements, light gore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-01-16 21:53:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21278321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moomoomeep/pseuds/moomoomeep
Summary: When Tony Stark meets Stephen Strange, he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! It’s been SO long since I’ve posted a fic, especially an Avengers one. I’ve had this idea in my documents folder for about three years now and never had the right couple until now. I'll be updating the tags as we go along so make sure to pay attention to those. 
> 
> The title is Slovenian for “Eternal Night.” I used google translate so if this is incorrect, please correct me. 
> 
> Inspiration: The Witcher: Blood and Wine and the Penny Dreadful TV series 
> 
> Warning: blood and body horror
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing! 
> 
> Enjoy!

“Good afternoon, everyone. How’re we doing today? Hopefully not freezing your asses off,” Tony says as he walks into his classroom, wearing a black winter coat, light gray suit, white button down shirt, and brown loafers. He sets his black briefcase down on his desk and pulls off his winter coat before sitting heavily into his chair. He rubs at his eyes tiredly before taking a long sip of his coffee, savoring the bitter taste. The coffee from the cafeteria may not be that great, but he’ll take anything after lecturing all day.

Tony was surprised when the Headmaster at the University of Slovenia, Bled, personally reached out to him back in April to be a guest lecturer for the Advanced Engineering course (Tony wanted to call it ‘Extreme Engineering,’ but was immediately shot down). It’s his job to adequately prepare his juniors (and a couple sophomores) for their upcoming thesis assignments. The Engineering Department Head, Ruslana Vidmar, believes that students should begin thinking about their thesis as early as possible so they can work out the logistics and be able to gather the right materials in time.

Tony never thought of himself as the teaching type, but his students seem to like him well enough and he hasn’t screwed them up yet, so he counts it as a win. He hides a yawn behind the back of his hand before logging into his admin account. He reaches into his briefcase and pulls out his external hard drive and plugs it into the computer. Tony clicks on the icon, labeled ‘Tony Stank’ (because Rhodey thinks he’s hilarious), when it appears and pulls up tonight’s lecture.

He downs the rest of his coffee and rises from his chair. His students start shuffling around, pulling out their notebooks and quieting their conversations. Tony grabs his wireless clicker and walks around the desk. “Alright. I know you guys are excited about the Christmas holiday and a shorter period class today, _but_ we have some important things to talk about like your upcoming thesis assignments.”

The class immediately groans and begins complaining.

Tony waves them off. “Yeah, I know, but if I don’t talk about it now, then I’m going to be yelled at by Vidmar, which means that I’m going to have to yell at you for getting me yelled at. Capuche?”

One of Tony’s more rebellious students, Yury, blows a raspberry, which earns the laughter of a few students.

Tony rolls his eyes and presses a button on the clicker to change the slide. “Just because you start _working_ on your thesis in senior year, doesn’t mean that you should wait until then to start _thinking_ about it. And don’t give me that excuse of ‘oh I don’t have any ideas, Mr. Stark,’ because that’s bullshit. You come up with new ideas every single day. Write them down and think about how you can expand them. The more you think, the more you’ll be able to find the idea that speaks to you, grab it by the balls, and take off.”

He changes the slide. “Your assignment—and don’t start with me,” he quickly adds when he sees that his students are about to complain, “over break is to come up with at least five different ideas for a thesis assignment. You must have at least a title and a one-line description. You will present your ideas to the class when we return from holiday on January third. Be prepared to answer questions and get feed back from your classmates. Remember: it doesn’t have to be perfect. This assignment is to get you thinking. I’ll show you an example.”

Tony shoves the clicker into his pocket before pulling off his blazer, which earns a few wolf whistles and several laughs in response. He snorts and throws his blazer in the direction of his desk, not noticing that it lands on the floor. He rolls up his sleeves, revealing twin metal bracelets that he wears on his wrists, and holds up his arms.

“These bracelets are a part of the prototype for the Mark Forty Six. Please don’t ask me about the previous forty five because it wasn’t pretty,” he says which earns a laugh from his students. “Myself, and my roommate at the time, Ho Yinsen, came with the original idea in our freshman year at M.I.T. Our goal was to create an alternative form of self defense for the elderly and disabled. While the full suit isn’t retractable, the gauntlets are and easy to activate and deactivate. All you have to do is press your wrists together and . . .”

Tony presses his wrists together and watches as the familiar red and gold gauntlets appear around his hands. He hears several gasps and looks up to see his student’s completely entrapped faces. He bites back a smile as pride swells within him. “The gauntlets are made of Vibranium and powered by the Arc Reactor, which was originally created by my father as an alternative energy source. I was able to miniaturize it into a portable device and stick it to my chest—you can probably see the light glowing. The Mini Arc Reactor has been used to power Marks Two through Forty Six.”

Tony activates the repulsers but don’t fire them. “Do you wanna know how this idea started? My best friend’s elderly grandmother lived on her own and he was worried that someone might break in and try to hurt her. He didn’t want to get his grandmother a gun in case she forgot how to use it, but wanted her to have a way to protect herself. And there was the idea for the Mark One. It’s that simple.”

Tony presses his wrists together to deactivate and retract the gauntlets. “While our idea never took off, we continued developing the Marks because you never know when it could come in handy. Plus, it was a good way of keeping our minds working around the clock. Now, any questions—”

Everyone raises their hands.

Tony raises an eyebrow. “About your assignment?”

Everyone lowers their hands.

Tony claps his hands together. “Alright class dismissed. I’ll see you all on January third. If you have any questions about the gauntlets, email me and I might get back to you.” He turns and walks to his desk while his students loudly gather their belongings and chat eagerly to each other about their ideas. Tony sits down in his chair before closing his powerpoint and unplugging his external hard drive. He just finishes placing the item in his bag when he notices a student standing in front of his desk. He looks up and smiles sheepishly. “Sorry, Shuri, didn’t see you there. What can I do for you?”

“Hello Mr. Stark,” Shuri says in a heavy accent. “I just wanted to let you know that I am returning to my home country of Wakanda over break and will return here a week after classes begin.”

“So, you’ll miss the first two classes then?” Tony questions. When Shuri nods her confirmation, he continues, “That’s fine. Email me your assignment on January third so you still get full credit and you can present to the class when you return. Be prepared though because they might have tougher questions after hearing everyone else’s presentations.”

Shuri snorts. “They can try, but I am tough too. Thank you, Mr. Stark. I do have one more question for you.”

“Ask away.”

“Where did you get the Vibranium for your gauntlets. As you know, all the Vibranium on Earth is found on Wakanda and we do not like to share.”

“That’s . . . actually a very good question. Uh, I found it in one of my father’s old storage units. Each Mark uses the same material that we originally found. When the suit no longer functions, we either break it down and start anew or we swap out the technology. It really depends on what mood we’re in.”

It’s the truth, but Shuri hums like she doesn’t believe him, which is fine, because if Tony heard that same story from someone else, he wouldn’t believe it either. Shuri gives him a playful smile before waving and walking out of the classroom.

Tony shakes his head and finishes packing up his things. He puts on his blazer and winter coat before pulling out his phone. He opens his contact list and scrolls down until he finds Rhodey’s number, pressing the contact and putting the phone up to his ear.

Tony and Rhodey have been best friends ever since they were kids. Their friendship stayed strong when Tony skipped high school and went straight to M.I.T., when Rhodey decided to join the military and rose to the rank of Colonel before retiring, and when Tony was a mess while he was CEO of Stark Industries before getting clean and passing the company over to their dear friend and certified badass, Pepper Potts.

When Tony was offered this job back in April, Rhodey decided to come along with him. Neither of them had ever been to Slovenia before and figured it would be fresh start for both of them. Rhodey even found a job working in a nearby café. Life in Bled is easygoing and carefree and Tony wouldn’t trade that for the world.

“Hey Tones,” Rhodey says, his voice pulling Tony from his thoughts.

“Hey Sugarplum. I just finished my last lecture for the night and wanted to let you know I’m on my way.”

“Awesome! And just time for dinner too. I made chicken potpie with a side of greens. You’re gonna love it.”

“I can smell it already. I’ll see you soon.”

“Sounds good. Later.”

Rhodey hangs up and Tony slips his phone into his briefcase before picking it up and leaving the classroom. Shutting the door behind him, he finds himself in the eerily silent hallway. Tony suppresses a shiver as he makes his way towards the staircase. An uneasy feeling settles in the pit of his stomach prompting him to take the stairs two at a time until he busts through the front door of the science building and into the frigid night where he feels like he can breathe again.

Tony takes a deep breath and tries to shake off that feeling while he makes his way across campus. He doesn’t understand what’s wrong with him. He’s been doing this lecture for months and never experienced this feeling until now. His and Rhodey’s apartment is only a few blocks away and he’s made this walk a hundred times before. He knows he’ll feel better once he’s home, so why does tonight feel like it’s going to be different.

The wind picks up and Tony pulls his coat tighter around himself as he reaches the edge of campus and hangs a right towards the direction his and Rhodey’s apartment. The main road is brightly lit with fairy lights strung up on the bare trees that have a variety of colored ornaments hanging off the thin branches. The shops are just beginning to close down for the night with employees quieting encouraging their straggling customers to leave while cleaning the store and packing up the day’s leftovers for themselves.

Tony can faintly smell the fading sent of hot chocolate and gingerbread cookies, which makes his stomach grumble. It’s making him long for the Christmas market that he and Rhodey went to last week alongside Lake Bled; they ate until they were sick and are still working through the goodies they brought home with them.

Tony reaches the end of the cozy street and takes another right, where he’s immediately plunged into darkness. He can barely see two feet in front of him, let alone anything that could be lingering in the darkness. Tony reaches into his pocket and carefully pulls out his glasses before slipping them onto his face. He presses a button on the side, which pulls up a variety of screens.

“Friday, what’s going on?”

“Power outage, boss. The city is currently working on it and should have the power on this block restored in approximately thirty minutes.”

Tony rolls his eyes. “Great. Keep an eye out for weirdoes, Fri.”

“Aren’t I always?”

Tony takes a deep breath before beginning his trek down the street. It’s going to take about ten minutes before Tony reaches the intersection at the end of the block, takes a left, and makes it to his and Rhodey’s apartment. He’ll be good, right?

Tony shakes his head with frustration. He has no idea what the hell has gotten into him today. He’s not even afraid of the dark and has no idea why he’s so jumpy all the sudden. Maybe it was those tacos he ate yesterday.

He’s been walking for about a minute when he begins to hear faint singing. It’s so dark that Tony can’t tell which direction the singing is coming from, but the voice is soft and low with an ethereal tone, singing in a language that Tony can’t understand.

“Friday, do know what language that is?”

“The language is not available in my database, boss.”

Tony is taken back. “That’s impossible. I downloaded every language to your database and a universal translator. How is this language not in there?”

“I don’t know, boss.”

Tony sighs, heavily. “It doesn’t matter now. I’ll take a look at your files when we get home. Dum-E might have spilled something on your server again—what the hell?” he says, cutting himself off when his foot kicks something cold and squishy. “Friday, scan please.”

“It’s a body, boss. Recently deceased.”

Tony bites back a yell and quickly backs up, tripping over his feet and barely avoiding falling backwards onto his ass. He steadies himself and places a hand on his chest in an attempt to control his now rapid breathing. “In the middle of the sidewalk. Was the dumpster already taken?”

Before Friday can answer, Tony shivers and feels fear slowly creeping up his spine. He squints in an attempt to see what’s around him, but it’s so dark that he can’t tell up from down let alone left from right. Tony feels a sense of dread pooling in his stomach so intense that it threatens to choke him. Then, he gets the feeling like he’s being watched.

Tony feels the air shift around him before he’s struck from behind. He falls to the ground and rolls onto his back, throwing his briefcase aside and quickly pressing his wrists together. The gauntlets form around his hands and Tony fires off a repulsor blast in the direction of whoever attacked him. His blast misses his attacker, but illuminates them enough to leave Tony horrified.

His attacker is not human. It’s tall, has at least two feet on Tony, with long spindly arms and legs. The creature is bald and has either blue or gray skin. It wears no clothes, has deep red eyes, and plenty of sharp teeth. The creature roars right as the light from the repulsor fizzles out and prepares to lunge. Tony scrambles to his feet and runs as fast as his legs can carry him. He can feel the air shifting behind him as the creature swipes at him with its long fingers.

Tony throws his arm behind him and fires off another repulsor blast. Based on what he hears, the blast misses the creature, once again, and doesn’t slow its pursuit. Tony’s heart pounds in his chest as his mind rapidly tries to come with a way out of this situation. Adrenaline is keeping him going for now, but he knows it’s not going to last forever, and he’s going to get tired soon. When that happens, he’s dead.

“Friday, anything?”

“I’ve scanned the entity and there’s nothing like this in my databases or anyone else’s. I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault, Fri; keep scanning for weaknesses,” Tony says as he throws his arm behind him and fires off another repulsor blast. He hears a loud high-pitched screech that proves he was finally successful in hitting it. Tony bites back a smile—he’s not out of danger yet. He can see the lights from his block in the distance. He’s almost home.

Tony throws his arm behind him to fire off another blast when he trips over something in the middle of the sidewalk. His arms shoot in front of him to protect his face as he falls hard to the ground. Ignoring the pain, he quickly scrambles to his feet only to feel long fingers wrap around his ankle in a near bone-breaking grip.

Tony digs his fingers into the ground and tries to wiggle away, but the creature is too strong as it slowly pulls Tony closer to it. Tony bites back a sob, knowing this is the end, when he hears a shout and sees a bright orange beam blast from the other side of the street hit the creature behind him.

The creature roars in pain as Tony feels warm human hands grip onto his upper left arm and haul him to his feet. Tony doesn’t get the chance to look at his savior before he’s being pulled across the road, into a nearby alley, and through a portal that takes them across town.

Tony blinks as he finds himself standing in front of Lake Bled. The trees are covered in fairly lights and ornaments and he can see the massive Christmas tree lit up on the island in the center of the water. In the distance, he can hear people laughing and toasting the upcoming holiday at the Christmas Market, none the wiser to the horror that he just faced.

Tony turns away from the lake and finds his rescuer dissolving the portal into nothing, but bright orange sparks. “I’m sorry, but what the hell just happened.”

Tony’s savior turns around and he doesn’t miss how his heart stutters when that intense gaze is turned on him. The man is tall and lean with salt and pepper hair and facial hair almost as good as Tony’s. He’s wearing what looks like blue pajamas and a red cape that seems to be moving on it’s own. As far as rescuers go, he’s gorgeous and Tony would bet money that he looks even better in the daylight.

The man raises an eyebrow and Tony rolls his eyes. “Dude, you can’t just recuse me with a fucking _portal_ and not expect any questions. Now, fess up. What the hell was that thing?”

“It’s a long story,” the man says in a deep, husky voice.

This time, Tony raises an eyebrow. “I got time.”

The man’s mouth quirks upward in amusement. “It’s getting late. You should go home and get some rest,” he says before turning and walking away.

“Hey!” Tony yells before running after the man until they fall into step together. “First of all, I’m not going anywhere. Second, I was on my way home when that thing attacked me so start talking, Chell.”

“Chell? Really?

“Uh, she creates portals. You create portals. It’s called a reference, sweetie.”

The man sighs heavily with exasperation. “Have you ever heard of vampires?”

“Like Twilight.”

“Twilight? Okay, out of all the vampire media that exists, you gravitate towards twilight?”

Tony shrugs. “It was the first one that popped into my head. Keep going.”

“Fine. Real vampires are not like the ones in Twilight, as you’ve seen.”

Tony involuntary shivers as the memories from his attack flash in the forefront of his mind. “Yeah, don’t remind me. Do you know what it wanted?”

“Probably another victim. Vampires feed on human blood to survive. There were at least three freshly drained bodies in the same area where you were attacked,” the man says. “Let me ask you something. Did you sense anything beforehand?”

“Yeah, I felt like I was being watched.”

“Good. Those instincts saved your life.”

“And you.”

The man snorts. “And me.”

“Are you some kind of wizard vampire hunter?”

“Sorcerer. And yes, something like that,” the man says as he opens the door to a white brick three story house.

Tony follows him into the building and is greeted by a large foyer with high ceilings and a grand staircase on the other side of the room. The man continues walking further inside while Tony closes the door behind him and spins around in a circle, taking the room in. “You know you never told me your name.”

“Doctor Strange, but you can call me Stephen. And you?”

Tony pauses briefly. That name sounds familiar. “Tony Stark.”

“Tony Stark,” Stephen repeats and Tony shouldn’t be thinking about how much he likes his name rolling off Stephen’s tongue. “Follow me,” he says before leading Tony into a small sitting room just off the foyer. The walls, tables, and shelves are covered in various artifacts that look like they’re from different countries during different time periods.

Tony wants to touch them all.

Stephen walks up to a bookcase that spans the length of an entire wall and runs his index finger along the spines of the various books on the shelf until he reaches a dark green book with gold swirls along its spine. He pulls the books towards them and takes a step back.

Tony can hear a mechanism click and grind before the bookshelf pulls itself from the wall and slides off to the side. His eyes are wide with wonder as he watches the bookcase move to the side and reveal a staircase that leads into the basement. “You’re not gonna take me to your secret sex dungeon are you?”

Stephen rolls his eyes. “Of course not. The secret sex dungeon is on the opposite side of the house,” he says before walking down the stairs without checking to see if Tony is following.

Tony shakes his head and follows him down the stairs until they reach a large room that’s bigger than Tony and Rhodey’s current apartment. There’s a large wooden table in the center of the room with about ten chairs surrounding it. The walls are covered in schematics and pictures of supernatural entities such the Werewolf of Bulgaria, Mermaids luring sailors to their death at the Mariana Trench, and a Unicorn rumored to roam on the Austria—Switzerland border.

“My mom used to read me stories about these creatures when I was little,” Tony says he looks at a picture of a Hellhound. “It never occurred to me that they could be real.”

“The world is a massive place and these creatures have existed for thousands of years. Some of them like to give glimpses like Big Foot, Nessie, and the Chupacabra while others prefer to stay hidden. Vampires, for example, usually don’t feed out in the open like the one today, but I figure it was taking advantage of the blackout,” Stephen responds. At that moment, the Cloak decides to remove itself from his shoulders and float across the room before draping itself across the back of a chair.

“Uh, you do realize that your cape moves on its own, right?”

“It’s a Cloak and yes, it does. It’s an ancient relic that has been housed in the Sanctum in New York for centuries.”

“Did you steal it?”

“I didn’t steal it, it chose me.”

“You totally stole it.”

The Cloak lifts up a corner and points at Stephen in an accusatory manor. Stephen rolls his eyes and turns his back on it. The Cloak deflates dramatically.

“See look what you did. You hurt its feelings,” Tony says. He walks around the table until he reaches the chair the Cloak is draped over and pats it a couple times. “It’s okay, Cloakie. The big meanie didn’t mean it.”

“Please don’t encourage it.”

“I wasn’t gonna, but now I will,” Tony says, smiling when the Cloak perks up and wraps one of its corner’s around his wrist.

“You know for someone who has never encountered the supernatural, you’re taking this surprisingly well.”

Tony looks away from the Cloak and towards Stephen, who is giving him an inquiring look. “I’m a man of science, but I’d be foolish to think that humans are the only ones on this earth.”

Stephen hums. “How open of you.”

Tony shrugs. The Cloak unwounds itself from his wrist and Tony walks over until he’s standing beside Stephen. They’re looking at a large bulletin board with several pictures of the Vampire that attacked Tony tonight, along with pictures of a red-haired woman, a blonde haired man, and three adorable children. “Who are they?”

“My best friend Christine and her family. They were murdered by the same Vampire that attacked you tonight.”

Tony turns to look at Stephen. “I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you,” Stephen says a bit strained and Tony imagines that it’s still hard for him to talk about Christine. “Since their deaths, I have made it my goal to stop this vampire and any other malicious creature out there. I don’t want what happened to them to happen to anyone else.”

“That’s noble of you.”

Stephen smiles tightly. “I guess it is.”

Tony looks away from Stephen and back to the bulletin board where his eyes linger on the Vampire. “What happened to the Vampire?”

“After I blasted it, it disappeared in puff a smoke. I have no idea where it went after that. Vampires technically aren’t alive and their food source, human blood, can exist in even the most remote parts of the world.”

“Huh. That explains why Friday didn’t sense it.”

“Friday?”

“Yeah,” Tony says as he taps his glasses. “Friday is an artificial intelligence that I build from scratch. She knows and sees all—well, almost all. Now, I have to create a mythological database and upload it to her server. She can sense any living creature, but now I have to figure out how to get her to sense non living creatures as well.”

“Upstairs in our library, we have audio books on mythology that you can borrow to upload. It might save you some time,” Stephen says before giving Tony an inquisitive look. “You created your own artificial intelligence?”

“Yeah. It only took like six hours or so. Say hi, Fri.”

“Hello Doctor Strange,” Friday says through the speakers on the glasses.

“That’s incredible,” Stephen says amazed.

Tony has to stop himself from blushing. “So, I’m definitely going to take you up on the audio books. Do you need any help looking for the Vampire?”

“I have a team assembled. They’re on their way back from another assignment,” Stephen says. “Why? You looking for extra work?”

Tony grins. “When do I start?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey all! Sorry it took forever me to update! Work and life have been so crazy, but I managed to get this one out luckily. Thank you so much to everyone who read and gave kudos. You guys are my motivation to keep writing! Enjoy! 
> 
> Warning: light body horror

Stephen’s mouth quirks upward and he gestures towards the table. They sit down next to each other, probably too close for complete strangers, with the cloak still draped across the chair in front of them. Stephen reaches into one of his belts and pulls out a small two-finger ring. He slips into his left hand, makes a gesture with his right, and opens a small portal in front of him. He reaches inside and pulls out a worn brown book before holding it out in front of Tony, who smiles awkwardly.

“I don’t like to be handed things.”

Stephen wordlessly sets the book down on the table in front of Tony and turns his attention back to the portal.

Tony picks up the book and opens it before grinning at the title: _Vampires: A Guide to the Undead for Dummies_. He’s gonna have a field day with this one.

“This is the drive we keep all the audio books on,” Stephen says as he sets down a black external drive case near Tony’s right hand. “It’s five terabytes full of information about various creatures, including vampires. We have physical copies of all the books on here so you can keep the drive as long as you want.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that,” Tony says as he picks up the drive and slips it into his jacket pocket. It’s a bit bulky and awkward, but it’ll have to do.

“You’re welcome,” Stephen says as he closes the portal and turns to the pile of books in front of him, picking a red one off the top before cracking it open.

“How do you do that?” Tony asks.

“Read? Well, it’s very simple actually—”

Tony rolls his eyes. “No, the portals.”

“Magic.”

Tony sighs. “I swear you know what I mean the first time and choose to make everything difficult,” he says to which Stephen snorts. “I know it’s magic. I mean does it come from the ring.”

“No, the sling ring allows me to create and sustain portals. The magic comes from me.”

“Bullshit.”

Stephen shrugs. “It’s the truth, but hey, feel free to believe whatever you want.”

Tony scowls and turns back to his book, purposefully ignoring Stephen’s amused expression. He turns the page and begins to read, finding himself becoming fascinated with the amount of information he’s learning. The fairy tales (and by extension the movies) know absolutely nothing about vampires. They have inhuman strength and speed, the ability to regenerate limbs, can emit high pitched whines at a volume undetectable to humans as way to call for help from nearby vampires, and teleportation which is usually manifested by the vampire disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

There are even different levels of vampires: Infants, Lesser, and Higher vampires. Infants are newly turned vampires that are extremely vulnerable in their first year and rely heavily on the one who turned them in order to survive as they begin their transformation. Lesser Vampires tend to be a slave to their instincts due to the never-ending hunger. Higher Vampires are intelligent beings that are able to think rationally despite their instincts and communicate with humans.

“Hey Stephen.”

Stephen hums.

“Do you know how Infant Vampires become Higher or Lesser Vampires?”

“No, I don’t. No one does really. We think it has something to do with the transformation that determines the level of cognitive function, but it’s only a theory. We’d have to find a Higher Vampire willing to talk, but they’re impossible to find. The most common vampire we see are Lesser Vampires and even they’re rare.”

Tony hums and turns back to his book before flipping the page. So far, the only thing the stories got right is that vampires feed off human blood. The sun, stakes, and garlic won’t kill or even ward off a vampire, according to this book. Since they can regenerate limbs, the only way to permanently kill a vampire is to decapitate them with a silver sword.

Tony turns the page and nearly gasps at the pictures he sees. The humanoid creature has cracked gray skin and is covered is angry red boils. Its soulless red eyes are framed by patchy, matted black hair. It has long fangs and even longer nails. This vampire is nothing like the one that attacked Tony. He looks down underneath the picture and finds a description: _A newly turned Lesser Vampire depicted in a sketch by Ancient One, circa 901, A.D._

Tony shivers as the memories of his attack flash in the forefront of his mind. While Tony likes to believe that he can hold his own in a fight, he was pretty powerless against the vampire that attacked him, even with his gauntlets. He was very very lucky that Stephen showed up when he did. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be sitting here right now.

As if sensing his distress, the Cloak lifts itself from the chair and floats over to Tony, wrapping itself around his shoulders. One of its corners lifts up and rubs against Tony’s cheek in a comforting manner, which draws an uneasy smile to his face.

“The Cloak doesn’t just take to anyone, you know,” Stephen says, which draws Tony’s attention to him. He has a soft, content look on his face and Tony can’t stop the way his heart speeds up.

“Well, it obviously has good taste,” Tony says and when Stephen smiles, Tony feels like he can’t breathe. He opens his mouth to keep talking, when a loud banging upstairs preemptively cuts him off.

Their eyes shoot to the ceiling as the Cloak unwinds itself from Tony’s shoulders and attaches itself to Stephen.

“Do you think it’s the vampire?” Tony asks as he suppresses a shiver.

“There are multiple magic shields that protect this building. Beings like vampires shouldn’t be able to get in,” Stephen informs. “Do you feel anything?”

Tony thinks for a moment. He definitely feels uneasy, but nothing like the sense of dread he felt earlier. “No.”

“Then it’s probably not the vampire,” Stephen says as he rises from his chair.

Tony does the same and winces when his chair scrapes loudly across the mahogany floor. Stephen makes a different gesture with his hands and two glowing orange circles appear over his fists.

“Alright, you stay here. I’ll go see what’s going on upstairs and come get you when it’s clear.”

Tony rolls his eyes. “Fat chance, Merlin, I’m coming too,” he says before pressing his wrists together and activating the gauntlets. “Friday, standby.”

“You got it, Boss,” Friday says through the glasses still on Tony’s face.

Stephen opens his mouth to argue when there’s another loud noise coming from upstairs. “Fine, but stay behind me.”

Tony and Stephen slowly crouch down and tip toe their way to the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible, until Tony steps on a squeaky floorboard. Stephen throws an annoyed look over his shoulder and Tony sticks his tongue out in response. Stephen rolls his eyes and starts making his way up the stairs with Tony on his heels.

They quickly reach the top and before Tony can fully see into the sitting room, the Cloak wraps one of its edges around Tony’s wrist and yanks him after Stephen, who dodges to the right. A deep red energy blast sails past Tony’s head and breaks the wall behind him. The Cloak continues pulling him after Stephen until they are safely hiding behind one of the couches.

“This is why I didn’t want you to come,” Stephen whispers before moving to fire off an energy blast of his own and ducking back behind their temporary cover.

“Too bad, you’re stuck with me,” Tony whispers back as a red energy blast sails right over their heads. He powers up his gauntlets as he and Stephen move to return fire when a panicked voice stops them in their tracks.

“Stephen! Wanda! What is wrong with you two? I told you no sparing in my sitting room!”

“Wait, Wanda? Wong?” Stephen says. He lets his magic face into orange sparks and rises from behind the couch before walking away, once again, without checking to see if Tony is following.

Tony scrambles to his feet and powers down the gauntlets. He taps his wrist together to retract them as he follows Stephen into the foyer where they find a young woman looking sheepishly at an Asian man who looks to be around Stephen’s age.

“What is wrong with the two of you?” the man, whom Tony is assuming to be Wong, asks once Stephen comes into view. “Do you have any idea how long it took me to save up for those couches?”

“If they’re damaged, I can replace them for you, no big deal,” Tony says as all eyes turn to him. “Hi, Tony Stark, at your service.”

The woman tilts her head and examines his features before recognition flashes in her eyes. “Professor Stark?” she questions in a thick, Eastern European accent.

Tony rocks back on his heels. “That’s me,” he says as he looks the woman over. She’s dressed in all black aside from her long red coat and brown boots. Her wavy brown hair frames her pale face and Tony feels like he’s seen her before. “Who are you?”

“Wanda Maximoff. I’m a psych major at UOSB.”

“Huh. So, that’s where I recognize you from,” Tony says, recalling a few instances where he saw her in passing between classes. “Good to finally meet you.”

“Likewise. I’m sorry for attacking you and Stephen. It’s not an excuse, but I’m just . . . a little bit on edge.”

“We heard a rumor that there was a murder near the university,” Wong interjects as he folds his hands into the sleeves of his deep, purple robe. “We figured you either stopped the murderer or were dead.”

“Well, obviously, I’m not dead,” Stephen says exasperated. “I was out patrolling when I ran into Tony being attacked. I recused him and he followed me here.”

“Because you wouldn’t answer my questions, jackass,” Tony says as he crosses his arms. “And for the record, I had everything under control.”

Stephen turns to Tony and raises an eyebrow. “Is that why you were about to be eaten?”

“Oh no, there’s two of you. I’m going back to the library,” Wong says before making a complicated gesture with his hands and teleporting out of the room.

“I’d love to stay and chat too, but I have some work to finish up before I can sleep. I’ll see you later, Stephen. Have a good break, Tony.”

Tony turns to Wanda. “You too. I’ll be grading papers and hunting vampires.”

Wanda smiles before making the same hand gesture as Wong and teleporting out of the room.

Tony looks at the space where she disappeared and moves to turn back to Stephen when the window catches his eye. The sky is brighter than it was when he first came here, which means that the sun is coming up and that he’s been up all night reading about vampires with a very cute stranger. Tony sighs mentally. Rhodey is going to _kill_ him. “Looks like I need to go too. Sun’s up and I got work in a couple hours.”

“That’s fine, we can continue working another time. Do you want a portal home?”

“Please.”

“Address?” Stephen asks as he pulls out his sling ring and slips it onto his left hand.

Tony relays his address to Stephen, who makes a gesture with his right hand and opens a portal in front of Tony. It’s so surreal to him that this is even possible—that his new wizard person can conjure up a portal to his front fucking door.

Why the hell has Tony been paying for gas all these years?

Tony moves to step into the portal when a thought pops into his head that causes him to hesitate. Instead of going through, he turns to Stephen and holds out his hand expectantly.

Stephen looks at him confused. “What?”

“Gimme your phone.”

“Why?”

“If we’re hunting vampires together, I need some way to contact you and I don’t have a Marauder’s Map.”

Stephen sighs heavily. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone before placing it into Tony’s waiting hand.

Tony’s hands closes around the phone and he focuses on that rather than Stephen’s hands. He never noticed the scars or the way they tremble until now. Stephen must have gone through a lot and he wants to ask, but Tony has learned over the years to keep his mouth shut when the situation doesn’t call for it and he doesn’t want to ruin whatever is blooming between them. Stephen will tell him what happened in his own time.

“This is an outdated Stark Phone, I can get you a new one if you want,” Tony says instead as he swipes the screen to wake up the phone and clicks on the blue phonebook labeled “Contacts.”

“Why do I need a new one when that one works fine?”

“Staying up to date with trends is a good thing, you know,” Tony says as he adds himself in as a contact. “I can get you one, free of charge. I did invent them after all.”

“I’m not a charity case, Tony.”

“Never said you were. Think of it as a gift from a friend,” Tony says before handing Stephen back his phone.

Stephen takes his phone back and slips it into his pocket. “Maybe when this one breaks, I’ll take you up on it.”

“Sounds like a plan, Doc,” Tony says before finally stepping through the portal and coming to a stop in front of his front door. He turns around to face Stephen. “Text me soon, I don’t like waiting.”

“Patience is a virtue, Tony. A little waiting won’t kill you.”

“Yes it will. I can already feel my soul leaving its body.”

Stephen shakes his head, but his smile betrays his true feelings. “Goodnight, Tony. I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll hold you to it. Bye Cloak.”

The Cloak perks up and eagerly waves goodbye to Tony. Stephen nods in acknowledgment and closes the portal.

Tony can’t help the pang of loneliness that shoots through him at being left on his own for the first time that night. He’s literally only known them for less than twelve hours, but it feels like he’s known them for years. Stephen is stupid hot and a bit of a dick, but hey, so is Tony. He’s never vibed with someone on that level since he met Pepper and Rhodey and it’s scary, but also incredible. And the Cloak is the most adorable thing on the planet. Tony just wants to steal it from Stephen and cocoon himself in its warmth forever.

He sighs and shakes his head to focus. He doesn’t know why he’s acting this way when he knows he’s going to see them again. Stephen has his number and hopefully, won’t keep Tony waiting forever. He wasn’t lying when he said he was impatient.

Tony reaches into his pocket and pulls out his keys, selecting the two gold ones and unlocking the front door as quietly as he can before slipping inside and shutting the door behind him. The living room is silent and the blackout curtains that Rhodey insisted on getting are successfully blocking out the early rays of morning sunlight.

If Tony wasn’t trying to be quiet, he would jump for joy at his luck. Since the room is still dark, it means that Rhodey must still be asleep. He knows that Rhodey is still going to be mad, but at least he doesn’t have to deal with it first thing and can probably catch a few hours of sleep before Rhodey starts yelling.

Tony grins widely and toes off his shoes. He starts tiptoeing across the room and nearly makes it to the hallway when the room is suddenly flooded with bright artificial light. Tony tenses and turns around to find Rhodey sitting in their modest living room. It only has two gliders, one for Tony and one for Rhodey, an end table between them so they can store all their crap, and a flat screen television.

Rhodey slowly lowers his phone as he swivels around in his brown glider until he’s fixing Tony with a disappointed look. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Out.”

Rhodey raises an eyebrow. “Doing what?”

“Stuff.”

“Don’t you dare—”

“And things. The Rick Grimes special.”

“I should have never showed you that remix on YouTube.”

“You shouldn’t have showed me a lot of things, honey bear.”

“Tones, seriously. Where have you been? I’ve been calling you all night with no answer and was about to report you missing.”

Tony winces. “Yeah sorry about that. My phone is in my briefcase . . . which I no longer seem to have. Wow, I didn’t even realize it was missing. Now, where did I . . . oh damn, I must have dropped last night and I think I know where too.” He turns around and slips on his shoes again before opening the front door.

“Where are you going now?”

“To get my shit,” Tony says before leaving the apartment with Rhodey quickly following behind him. He gives his keys to Rhodey, who locks the door, before they make their way back to the road where Tony was attacked.

“Why did you even drop your briefcase anyway? That thing is usually attached to your hand,” Rhodey says before giving Tony a knowing look. “Unless you met a boy.”

Tony waves off Rhodey in an annoyed manner and hopes that his friend can’t see how his face is heating up. Judging from Rhodey’s laughter, he knows.

“What’s his name?”

Tony makes a point to not look Rhodey in the eye, even as his friend tries to lean into his sight line.

“Come on, Tones. You know I’m just gonna keep asking until you tell me.”

Tony bites back a sigh. “His name is Stephen.”

“Ah, so you _did_ meet a boy,” Rhodey says, lightly teasing before bumping his shoulder against Tony’s. “I’m happy for you man. I hope you’ll introduce me to your secret boyfriend soon.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Tony says, but he honestly hopes that won’t remain the case for long. He really likes Stephen and wants to take him out. Man, he really should have gotten Stephen’s number.

“Uh huh. Sure,” Rhodey responds, clearly not believing him.

“Gumdrop, you know I would tell you if I had a secret boyfriend, right?”

“Would you though?”

“Yes . . . eventually.”

“Ah ‘eventually.’ Good to—what the hell is going on over there?”

Tony finally turns his attention to Rhodey and follows his line of sight before noticing a small crowd gathered at the end of the block. “No idea. Let’s find out.”

Tony and Rhodey slowly make their way to the front of the crowd, apologizing the entire way as they elbow, knee, and even step on a few people until they bust through the front of the line and find themselves standing in front of an orange and white stripped barricade with the words “CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS” written in bold black letters. Several members of the National Police Force guard the entrance to the road, slowly pacing back and forth as their eyes survey the crowd and their bodies effectively block what’s going on behind them.

“Goodness, James, you scared me,” a familiar voice says in heavily accented English.

Tony turns and finds that he and Rhodey ended up standing next to their neighbor, Viktorija, a lovely lady in her eighties, who’s still clad in her cotton candy pink bathrobe, curlers, and fuzzy slippers. She has one of her hands placed over her heart and an amused look on her face.

Rhodey gives her a sheepish smile. “Sorry, Viktorija. Didn’t mean to startle you. Do you know what’s going on here?”

“Three people were murdered last night,” Viktorija says solemnly as she gestures towards the crime scene.

Through the small gap that the officers make, Tony can make out three white sheets covering bodies as crime scene technicians wander the site in their hazmat suits, gathering evidence to pass on to the labs for analysis while members of the National Police Force stand by quietly observing.

Tony’s hand twitches at his side as he remembers his attack from last night and how he was too close to becoming one of the vampire’s victims. If Stephen wasn’t there—

“It’s such a shame,” Viktorija says, pulling Tony away from his thoughts. “Those poor people and their families. Murders are rare in Bled and to think three people were murdered on the same night and so close to us—oh, it’s just horrible.”

“I know, Viktorija. Hopefully, law enforcement will be able to give us some answers soon.”

“I hope so or they will have me to deal with.”

Rhodey smiles tightly.

Tony’s eyes drift back to the crime scene and he spots his briefcase out of the corner of his eye. It’s lying between an obliterated lamppost and the building behind it with a massive whole in the wall.

Stephen really did a number on that vampire last night.

Tony chews on his bottom lip. He needs to recover his briefcase and fast. Both his phone and wallet are in there, and Tony really doesn’t want the police knocking on his door after discovering his belongings at a fucking crime scene. He can feel his belly slowly fill with anxiety as the crime scene technicians slowly make their way closer to his briefcase. It’s not exactly hidden and Tony’s surprised they didn’t discover it sooner.

Tony blinks and discovers that his briefcase is gone. He furrows his brow and quickly scans the area. None of the technicians or police has his briefcase so where did it go? Tony is thinking about getting Rhodey’s attention when he feels a familiar weight in his left hand. He slowly looks down and finds that he is _holding_ his briefcase.

Tony quickly scans the area before spotting Wanda through the crowd, leaning against a building not too far away. Their eyes meet and she winks at him before disappearing around the corner. Biting back a smile, Tony nudges Rhodey to get his attention. “Got my case. Let’s get out of here.”

“Alright. Bye Viktorija. We’ll see you at home.”

“You two take care now and stay safe out there.”

Viktorija turns back to the crime scene while Tony turns to fight his way through the now larger crowd, with Rhodey gripping his belt so they don’t get separated. They do their best not to elbow anyone as people try to shift out of their way, though Tony quickly apologizes when he accidentally steps on someone’s foot.

As they break through the crowd and into the fresh air, Tony takes a breath that he didn’t realize he was holding.

“Damn that was intense,” Rhodey says as he lets go of Tony’s belt. “I didn’t even notice the crowd getting that big.”

“Me either,” Tony says as he starts making his way back to their apartment. He reaches into his briefcase and pulls out his phone, checking the time: 7:03am. He’s gotta to work soon. Tony looks at his phone notifications and winces. Twenty missed calls and fourteen text messages from Rhodey. Tony feels bad for worrying his friend, but it wasn’t his fault he was late.

Rhodey falls into step beside him. “What do you think happened, Tones?”

Memories of Tony’s attack flash in the forefront of his mind and he fights to keep his expression neutral, hoping that Rhodey won’t notice his eye twitching. “No idea,” he lies.

“I wonder if the victims knew each other. Or if it was just a random killing.” Rhodey places a hand on Tony’s arms in panic. “Do you think it could be a serial killer?”

Tony shrugs. “I mean, it could, but we won’t know for sure until the police finish their investigation.”

Rhodey nods his head frantically as he removes his hand from Tony’s arm. They quickly jog up the stairs of their apartment complex and head to their front door. Rhodey pulls out Tony’s keys and swiftly opens the door, walking inside and pushing the door wider so Tony can pass through.

Tony follows Rhodey inside, closing and locking the door behind him. He tries to get his keys back from Rhodey, but the traitor holds them above his head so Tony can’t reach.

“Don’t think I didn’t forget about Stephen in all this. I want to meet him.”

Tony rolls his eyes and jumps, snatching his keys from Rhodey’s hand before wandering into their small kitchen and immediately banging his hip into a corner of the dining table. Tony swears under his breath, wondering why Rhodey even bothered getting a table. Their kitchen can barely fit the fridge, let alone a two-person table.

Tony rubs his hip as he opens the fridge, finding the chicken potpie sitting on the middle shelf in a glass dish. He puts down his briefcase on the table before carefully pulling the potpie out of the fridge and placing it on the counter next to the sink. He pulls off the plastic lid and finds that only half of the potpie is left.

Tony winces. Rhodey must have been stress eating while he was trying to reach him last night. He’s gonna have to take Rhodey on vacation or something to make up for last night.

Tony opens one of the drawers in front of him and pulls out a knife. He then opens the cabinet above him and grabs a plate, setting it on the counter next to the potpie. He cuts himself a massive slice and gently maneuvers it to the plate. He grabs a paper towel, covers his plate (since Rhodey yelled at him the last time he didn’t), and sticks it in the microwave for two minutes. He puts the potpie back in the fridge and shuts the door behind him.

Tony crosses his arms and leans against the counter, tapping his foot impatiently while his stomach growls loudly.

“Hey Tones. I’m off for work,” Rhodey says as he pokes his head around the corner. “I’ll be done around five today.”

“Sounds good. I gotta go to work myself in an couple hours,” Tony says. “I’ll be off at six. I’ll call you if anything changes.”

“You better. I don’t want a repeat of last night,” Rhodey says, giving Tony a slight smile before walking away. Tony watches as he grabs his own keys from the end table next to their chairs before walking out the front door and locking it behind him.

The microwave beeps and Tony eagerly pulls out his food. He reaches back into the drawer in front of him and pulls out a fork before digging into his potpie and immediately spitting it out because it was too hot. Tony mourns the loss of his taste buds before talking his plate and his briefcase into his bedroom.

Tony’s room is small, clean, and cluttered. His walls are covered in various blueprints and scribbled notes full of ideas that have yet to been expanded on. His custom made brown desk takes up most of the space, as it runs the length of three of the four walls. It’s covered in various inventions, tools, and prototypes. It also houses his two-monitor computer and large custom built server underneath that houses his darling, Friday. His bed is shoved into the corner and still unmade from yesterday morning.

Tony sighs. “Dum-E, I told you three times to make my bed and tidy this place before I got back.”

Dum-E perks up at the attention and happily chirps.

Tony shakes his head fondly and goes over to his desk. He sets his plate down and finally takes the drive he got from Stephen out of his jacket pocket so it stops hitting his thigh every time he takes a step. He sets the drive and his glasses next to his plate before sitting down heavily in his computer chair.

“Friday, do a full scan of your servers.”

“On it, Boss.”

Tony grabs his plate and leans back in his chair, slowly eating his potpie. Dum-E rolls over with a duster and starts cleaning the desk. Tony smiles and pats his first friend, who chirps happily.

“Scan complete. All functions are normal.”

“Huh,” Tony says. He sets his plate back on the desk and plugs in the drive.

“Unknown device detected. Would you like me to download it?”

“Please.”

Tony picks up his plate again and watches Friday download the information he got from Stephen. “Friday, when you’re done, we need to create a program to detect the undead.”

“Boss?”

Tony closes his eyes and fights back the images from last night. “Vampires aren’t human, which is why it got the jump on us last night. I’m not gonna let it happen again,” he says, moving to take another bite of his food and suddenly finds that he isn’t hungry anymore.

Tony sets his plate on the desk and sighs. “I’m gonna lay down for a bit. You finish downloading that drive and then we’ll get started on that program.”

“On it.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. I'm so sorry for the long wait. I've been having horrendous writers block for this fic and then the pandemic hit and things got crazy. I still have writers block, but I figured I owe it to you guys to post the chapters that I do have written. I do have plans to eventually finish this fic so stay tuned! Thanks for being patient with me! I hope you guys enjoy!

Tony rests his chin in the palm of his hand as he reads over Yury’s paper on the ethics of replacing soldiers stationed overseas with combat-ready robots. He makes a couple grammar marks before flipping the page and biting back a yawn.

Yury’s paper is interesting, but Tony only slept about an hour before Friday finished downloading the drive that Stephen gave him. He decided to get up afterwards, and together, they were able to lay the foundation for the Undead Detection Program, which Tony is going to come up with a better name for later, before he had to go to work and leave her to continue alone.

Tony makes a couple more grammar marks and is about to flip the page when his phone vibrates next to him. He sets down his pen and picks up his phone to find that he has two texts from an unknown number. Tony quickly types in his password and opens the text.

_ **Are you free to meet up tonight?** _   
_ **It’s Stephen btw.** _

Tony’s heart skips a beat and he quickly types out a response. _I will be. I’m at work rn. I get off at 6p._

** _I’ll pick you up. Where do you work?_ **

** _At the university._ **   
** _No portals tho. I don’t want to scare my department head._ **

** _Fair enough. I’ll meet you at the gates at 6. No rush. Just come out when you’re ready._ **

** _Thanks. I’ll see you then._ **

** _It’s a date._ **

Tony smiles widely at his phone as his heart flutters in his chest. _**I’m gonna hold you to that, magic man.**_

_ **Please don’t call me that.** _

“Working hard, Doctor Stark?”

Tony reluctantly tears his attention away from his phone and to the door where he finds Ruslana Vidmar leaning against the doorframe. She has gorgeous long wavy brown hair, twinkling blue eyes, and a mischievous smirk on her face. Ruslana is as kind as she is vicious—a stickler for rules and regulations but willing to bend them for the right people.

Tony smiles at her. “You know you can call me Tony right?”

“I know,” she says in heavily accented English as she walks further into the classroom. Today, she’s wearing a comfortable looking white sweater dress, black leggings, and black boots. “Busy?”

“For you? Never.”

Ruslana smiles and sits down in the chair next to Tony’s desk. “How’s the grading going?”

“Great. Yury’s paper is my last one. I’ll send you final grades once I put them in the system.”

“Excellent! That’s what I like to hear! Good work,” Ruslana praises as she leans back in the chair, giving Tony a whiff of her perfume. It smells fruity and delicate. “I came by because I wanted to briefly go over the itinerary for next semester.”

“The floor is yours.”

“My main objective is to get the kids working on their thesis projects. I understand you introduced it a couple days ago.”

Tony nods. “Yep, they’re presenting on the first day of class. Aside from one student: Shuri. She’s going back to Wakanda and will be back one week after classes begin. I already warned her that her post presentation questions will be harder.’”

“Works for me. I also want to make sure that they know how to gather materials and workers. Where can you get quality materials for the cheapest price? Where can you find quality labor? How to budget for your project? You know, things along those lines. I don’t want you to give them all the information; just a point to start from.”

“Okay sounds good. How’s the lab coming along?”

“The last time I talked to the contractor, he said everything was going well and on track to be completed before the semester begins.” Ruslana smiles. “I know you’re eager to get into a lab and invent alongside your students. Thank you for being patient with me.”

“Ruslana, you’ve been a dream. Thank you,” Tony says and he genuinely means that. When he found out that the engineering students didn’t have a lab on campus to work from, Tony immediately wanted to build one for them so they didn’t have to worry about lack of transportation and traveling with a shit ton of materials, but both the Headmaster and Ruslana refused to let him because he is a guest of the university. They did, however, allow him to select a contractor and work with him on the layout, design, and décor of the lab.

Ruslana waves him off and rises from the chair. “Anyway, I’ve taken up enough of your time. I’ll let you get back to work. I’ll see you on January Second,” she says, offering him a smile before leaving the classroom.

Tony watches her leave until she disappears around the corner before returning back to Yury’s paper.

*

Tony sighs with relief as he enters the final grade for the semester into his laptop and hits submit. He leans back in his chair and closes his eyes. Now that his work for the semester is finally done, he has two whole weeks to relax. Well, as much as he can with a Vampire on the loose and a hot wizard invading his thoughts.

Tony smiles to himself as he closes his laptop and slides it into his briefcase. He grabs his phone, typing in the password, and watching as the screen lights up with his and Stephen’s text conversation. Tony realizes that he never added Stephen to his contacts and quickly does so, typing in his name with four heart emojis next to it. He then clicks out of Stephen’s contact and scrolls down the list until he finds Rhodey’s name, pressing on the call button and placing the phone against his ear.

The phone rings three times before Rhodey picks up. “Hey Tones.”

“Hey honeydew. I wanted to let you know I’m about to get off work, but I’m gonna be late again. I’m going out with Stephen tonight.”

“Don’t forget I want to meet him.”

“I know you do, but let me see if this works first.”

“Okay okay. I’m happy for you, Tones. I’ll see you later.”

“See you later. Bye.”

Tony hangs up before putting his phone into his briefcase and zipping it up. He rises from his chair and puts on his winter coat. He checks to make sure he got everything before turning off the lights and closing the door behind him. He walks down the long hallway that leads to the stairs passing by other classrooms where rustling papers and quiet conversation can be heard: telltale signs of the semester being nearly over.

Tony pushes open the door to the stairs, quickly descending a couple flights and opening the front door of the science building. He breathes in the fresh, crisp winter air and looks around campus before spotting Stephen sitting on a nearby bench. He’s wearing casual clothes today: a long black winter coat thrown over a comfortable blue sweater, black skinny jeans that make his legs look even longer, brown boats, and a red scarf that looks oddly familiar.

Tony starts walking towards him and as he gets closer, the corner of Stephen’s scarf lifts up and waves at him in greeting. Nice one, Cloak. “Hey Stranger,” Tony says in greeting once Stephen is within earshot.

Stephen rolls his eyes dramatically and looks up from his phone. “Is that the best you’ve got?”

“Not even close, Gandalf.”

Stephen sighs and gets up from the bench. They fall into step together as they walk to the edge of campus and turn left, in the direction of the Christmas Market.

“Have you been to the Christmas Market this year?” Tony asks curiously.

“Last week actually. We had just finished taking down a Wraith in Hong Kong and when we got back, Wong demanded kremšnita and the Christmas Market does it best.”

“That’s so funny. Rhodey and I were there last week too. We probably passed each other and didn’t notice. Funny how life works.”

A hint of a smile crosses Stephen’s lips. “Funny indeed.”

They reach the edge of the road and look both ways before jogging across the street and continuing straight ahead. A gust of wind blows by causing Tony to shiver and pull his coat tighter around himself.

“So, what made you decide to get into wizardry?” Tony asks breaking their comfortable silence.

“Sorcery,” Stephen corrects. “I got in a car accident that crippled my hands and left me unable to work. I went to this place in Kathmandu to fix them and instead had the universe opened to me. The sorcerers there work tirelessly to protect the multiverse from known and unknown threats.”

“Like what?”

“Like vampires, for example.”

“And?”

“Tony, if I gave you the names of all the beings that threaten the multiverse that we know of, we’d be here all night.”

“You act like I don’t have time.”

Stephen snorts. “I’m not gonna tell you because you won’t be able to sleep at night.”

“Try me.”

“No, and don’t try to peer pressure me. I’m immune.”

Tony huffs. “Fine. What did you used to do for work?”

“I was a neurosurgeon at Metro General Hospital.”

“In New York?” Tony questions and before Stephen can answer, Tony grabs onto his arm. “I_ knew_ I recognized your name. I read your paper about the development of brain controlled prosthetics and watched your live seminars. I wanted to email you to get more details, but by the time I did, Friday said you disappeared. Everything makes sense now.”

“Huh. I did several online seminars about brain-controlled prosthetics. Which one did you watch?”

“All of them,” Tony says and when Stephen looks surprised, Tony gives him a sheepish smile. “Like I said: I wanted to email you.”

“Wow, I’m . . . flattered,” Stephen says like he doesn’t know what the word means. “How come I didn’t recognize your name during the Q&A portion? Because I think even I would know who Tony Stark is.”

“Ever heard of a fake name, Doc?”

Stephen rolls his eyes.

They reach the end of the road and make a left before finding themselves in the middle of the Bled Christmas Market. Stalls decorated in fairy lights, garland, and ornaments line both sides of the street and are packed in closely together. The vendors are selling everything from homemade ornaments and dolls to local delicacies to international treats. There’s a crowd of people bobbing and weaving between the stalls with bags filled with treats and plates piled high with goodies.

“I don’t even know where to start,” Tony says as he tries to take everything in.

“I do,” Stephen says as he pulls out a piece of paper from his pocket. “Wong made a list.”

Tony takes the list from Stephen and looks it over. Wong has some of the nicest handwriting he’s ever seen, with clean lines, evenly spaced letters, and no spelling errors. His list is extremely detailed complete with the name of the item, the name that the locals refer to it as, and a detailed description including some of the ingredients. Damn, Wong is not messing around. “One of every type of sausage? Six tuna melts?”

“Flip it over. There’s a desserts list on the back.”

Tony flips over the list and skims the items on the back. “What the hell is Wong going to do with all this food?”

“He usually eats what he can and then freezes the rest. If he portions it right, he’ll be eating good until July.”

Tony pauses. “That’s genius. I’m actually upset that I didn’t think about that first,” he says as he hands Stephen back the list. “Anyway, that’s gonna add up quick. I hope you brought your credit card.”

“I didn’t,” Stephen says before grinning mischievously. “I swiped his.”

Tony smiles widely. “Brilliant.”

“So,” Stephen says, changing the subject. “How do you want to do this? Together or spilt up?”

Tony thinks about it for a moment. On one hand, he would love to wander around with Stephen and explore the Christmas market slowly. On the other, Wong’s list looks intimating and he’s starving. “Spilt up. We’ll be able to cover more ground that way.”

“Fair enough. There’s a seating area around here somewhere. We can meet up there when we’re done. One of us can grab a table and text the other person.”

Tony nods. “Sounds good. See ya in a bit,” he says before walking away from Stephen and looking around at his options. While Rhodey’s list wasn’t as detailed as Wong’s, he _heavily hinted_ at what he wanted from the market the other day when he yelled it Tony through the bathroom door while he was trying to have his morning poop. He shakes his head at the memory and approaches a small, colorful crepe stand tucked away in the corner next to a small linden tree. “Hello, how are you this evening?”

The old man smiles. He’s a sweet looking man in long green overalls that cover his beer belly and a gray Boston Scally hat. “I’m well, thank you. What can I get you today?”

Tony grabs a paper menu and quickly looks over the selection. Since he got a sweet crepe last time, he’ll probably go for a savory one since he hasn’t had dinner yet. Rhodey will definitely want his usual. “Can I get one cheese, egg, bacon crepe and one nutella crepe?”

“Of course. Good choices,” the man says as he types away on the cash register. “That will be fifteen forty-seven”

Tony reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet, opening it and counting out the correct amount of Euro’s before handing them over. The man quickly completes the transaction and hands Tony his change before moving to start on the crepes. Tony puts the change in the tips jar next to the register before moving off to the side.

Tony opens up his briefcase and pulls out his phone. He unlocks it and finds several messages from Pepper reminding him to do his paperwork and one from Rhodey letting him know he got home safe. He quickly texts back Rhodey and makes a mental note to do his paperwork tomorrow (spoiler: he’s not going to) as he opens up his messaging thread with Stephen.

_ **How’s the hunt for Wong’ s list coming?** _

_ **Great. I’m only about a third of the way done.** _

Tony smiles at the sarcasm. **_I believe in you._**

** _At least one of us does._ **

“Here you are, sir.”

Tony quickly slips his phone into his pocket and accepts the bag of crepes from the old man. “Thank you so much. Have a great evening.

“You as well.”

Tony makes sure the bag is secure before walking away from the stand. The crepes smell amazing and his stomach growls loudly, reminding him that he hasn’t eaten all day. He continues making his way around the market, grabbing two heaping slices of kremšnita for him and Rhodey to enjoy later, a dozen gingerbread cookies, and 2 cups of steaming hot chocolate for him and Stephen to wash down their food with.

Having completed his list, he goes to the seating area and winces at how crowded it is. Tony scans the area and finds a small empty table tucked away in the corner. He quickly makes his way over to the table and sets his bags down on the surface before sitting down in the chair with a loud sigh.

Tony reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, unlocking it and bringing up his text thread with Stephen. _**I found us a table. I’m at the far end near the post office.**_

He sets his phone on the table and rests his chin in his hand. As hungry as he is, he doesn’t want to start eating without Stephen. He blows out a breath and starts scrolling through his Instagram when something that Stephen mentioned earlier pops into his head.

“Friday, look up everything you have on the multiverse.”

“Multiverse?” Friday questions in a lowly through Tony’s phone speakers

“I know it sounds weird, Fri, but Stephen refused to expand on it. If there are threats to this world, I wanna know about it.”

“You could try asking him again.”

“Let’s try my way first.”

Friday makes a sound equivalent to a sigh before complying with Tony’s request.

Tony clicks out of Friday’s load screen and starts scrolling through Instagram again. He feels his heart squeeze when he sees a picture of Pepper and Happy with their daughters. He misses them all terribly and can’t wait until summer holidays when he can go back to the States and see them again.

Tony’s phone beeps, signaling that Friday’s search is complete. He clicks out of Instagram and brings up her research. Most of what she found seems to have come from the documents that he downloaded from Stephen’s hard drive earlier that day. He skims through a couple pages before he finds a text labeled _Multiverse for Dummies_ by Ancient One. Convenient.

“Is this seat taken?” a familiar voice asks.

Tony looks up and finds Stephen giving him a cheeky smile, which he quickly returns. “Yeah actually. I met this guy a couple days ago and he’s pretty great. Seen him around?”

Stephen’s smile widens and Tony’s heart skips a beat. “I may have seen him in passing,” he says as he sets his many bags on the table before sitting down. “Sorry I took so long.”

Tony shakes his head. “You’re fine,” he says before sliding a cup of hot chocolate and the straw he swiped at the last minute towards Stephen.

Stephen gives Tony a grateful look as he takes off the lid and puts his straw in the cup. “Were you waiting long?”

Tony shakes his head. “I’ve only been here like five minutes at most.”

Stephen takes a sip of his drink and gestures towards Tony’s phone with his head. “Are you researching something?”

“I was just looking into something you said earlier.”

“I said a lot of things earlier,” Stephen says as he reaches into one of his bags and pulls out a Styrofoam container and a fork. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

“The multiverse.”

“Ah,” Stephen says as he opens his Styrofoam container and takes a bite of what looks like Phat Si-io. “The short version is that the multiverse largely consists of alternate versions of our universe. Some of these changes are minor while others are extreme.”

“So, for example, in one of those universes, I could be a normal everyday person? With no company, no money, no fame. Just me?”

Stephen nods his head while he chews a mouthful of food.

Tony thinks about that for a moment, conflicted on how he feels. On one hand, he loves his company, his money, and the perks that come along with it. On the other hand, being in Bled is like a breath of fresh air. For once in his life he gets to be Tony instead of Tony Stark. He hasn’t been mobbed wherever he went, poked and prodded, or harassed by the media. Being here has done wonders for his mental health and actually improved his relationships with Rhodey, Pepper, and Happy. Hell, this weird thing he has going on with Stephen right now might not be going so well if they were in the States.

His contract with the university is only for one year, but he’s been thinking about renewing it at the end of the school year. He can’t abandon his students at this crucial moment in their lives. Besides, he loves it here, Rhodey loves it here, and now Stephen is here. It wouldn’t make sense for him to leave.

“You alright?” Stephen asks, which pulls Tony from his thoughts.

“Yeah, just thinking,” Tony says before taking a large bite of his food and avoiding Stephen’s concerned gaze. “What about the places in the multiverse that aren’t like out universe?”

Stephen lowers his fork. “Those are places that you never want to find yourself lost in. Trust me,” he says before taking another bite of his Phat Si-io.

Tony lowers his gaze to his crepe and moves it around wit his fork, finding that he’s not hungry for dinner anymore now that he’s made things awkward. He wraps his crepe back up and puts it away in the bag it came with. He reaches into a different bag and pulls out the small container of gingerbread cookies because cookies make everything better. Tony opens the container and offers one to Stephen, who takes it with a small smile of thanks and immediately bites off the head.

Tony snorts and Stephen looks at him curiously. He shakes his head before biting off the leg of the gingerbread man. _Carla’s Shoppe_ has the best gingerbread cookies he’s ever had and he’s going to have to remember to go back and buy her entire stock before the market closes for the season. “You know, it’s funny. I have a student who likes to crumble his cookies into hot chocolate and down everything in one go. My supervisor once walked in while we were all chanting “chug, chug, chug” and put a stop to it immediately.”

Stephen laughs around the next bite of his cookie. “That must’ve been a site.”

“Oh it was. I don’t know how those large chunks of cookie didn’t cut his throat. Though, his name is Yury so that probably explains a lot.”

“It’s always a Yury, isn’t it?” Stephen says with a shake of his head. “How did you get into teaching?”

“I got a call from the headmaster before the semester started and he offered the position. I wasn’t sure at first, but I decided that I could use a fresh start since Pepper is running the company full time now. My friend, Rhodey, recently retired from the Air Force and decided to come with me.”

“That’s sweet of him.”

“He’s a big softie, but don’t tell him I said that or he’ll pummel me.”

“Consider it our secret,” Stephen says with a wink.

Tony smiles a bit wider than necessary. “I think Rhodey was ready to settle back into civilian life. Not long after I told him and Pepper I was moving, he found a job at a café near our apartment. He also found our apartment.”

“That’s a good friend you’ve got there. Make sure you hang onto him.”

“Don’t worry, I will. Rhodey says that if I die he’s bringing me back to life and killing me himself.”

Stephen laughs and Tony’s hear flutters at the sound. They finish their cookies in a comfortable silence while Tony contemplates on whether or not he wants to make a move on Stephen tonight. They’ve been flirting on and off since they met a couple days ago and Tony is positive that Stephen likes him back in some capacity, romantic or otherwise. Either way, Tony doesn’t want to sit around and do nothing only to regret it years down the line.

When they finish their dessert, they clean up the table as best they can. Tony throws away the trash in a large black trashcan decorated with fairy lights nearby while Stephen puts away their food and gathers their bags. The crowds died down drastically while they were eating, making the walk back through the markets pleasant and inviting. Tony watches as the shopkeepers serve the stragglers and close up for the evening.

Stephen and Tony walk around until they find an unoccupied bench far enough so that they have privacy but close enough so they can still hear low conversing voices and shuffling feet. Stephen sets down their bags on one side while they sit on the other with barely an inch between them.

Tony lays his head down on Stephen’s shoulder and feels him hesitate for a moment before shifting to wrap his arm around Tony’s shoulders. He closes his eyes and takes a minute to cherish this moment. His belly is full, Stephen is warm, and Tony hasn’t felt this happy or content in a long time.

Tony opens his eyes and lifts his head before pressing his nose against Stephen’s cheek in thanks. He can feel Stephen’s face lift up in a smile and when he turns his head, probably to inquire just what the hell Tony is doing, Tony presses their lips together.

Stephen doesn’t hesitate in kissing back and Tony’s mind goes blank. What’s left of the crowd fades into the background and all he can focus on is Stephen. The way his trembling hand comes to gently touch Tony’s cheek; the ways he shifts closer, almost shyly; the softness of his lips. How he tastes like hot chocolate and gingerbread cookies.

Tony breaks the kiss for some much-needed air and opens his eyes, looking into Stephen’s own.

“We . . .” Stephen says trailing off as he catches his breath. “We could’ve been doing that the entire time.”

Tony smiles brightly, a look that is mirrored on Stephen’s face. Stephen is the one who leans in this time and Tony eagerly kisses him back. Stephen deepens the kiss almost immediately and licks at Tony’s bottom lip. Tony moans softly before opening his mouth as he grabs onto Stephen’s coat and pulls him closer until their practically flush together. Tony can feel all his blood rushing down and he really needs to get Stephen to a bedroom.

They break apart for air and press their foreheads together. Tony knows that he’s smiling ridiculously, but is content to know that Stephen is smiling in the exact same manner. Tony closes his eyes and takes a moment to breathe Stephen in. He’s happy—really _fucking_ happy—and he’s glad that he decided to take this chance.

“Tony,” Stephen says softly.

Tony tilts his head without opening his eyes and their lips touch. He moans quietly and moves to deepen their kiss when he feels a sudden sense of dread pool in his stomach. Tony pulls away and opens his eyes as anxiety floods his system while his grip on Stephen turns white knuckled.

“Tony what’s wrong?” Stephen asks concerned as he places his hands on Tony’s shoulders.

“It’s not you. That was nice and I want to do it again,” Tony says, feeling like he can’t breathe. “I think the vampire is back. I feel like I’m being watched.”

“Shit,” Stephen says as he quickly looks around the area. “There’s too many people here. Come on.”

Stephen gets up from the bench and barely waits for Tony to get to his feet and grab their bags before taking off. They fall into step with each other and walk until the noise of the crowd completely fades into the background.

“Okay, this should be good,” Stephen says as he takes out his sling ring and slips it onto his fingers. He quickly makes a complicated looking sign and opens a portal. He ushers Tony through before following and closing it behind them. “We should be safe now.”

“Where are we?” Tony asks as he looks around the room curiously. There’s several boxes piled high to the ceiling along with a couple old couches and what looks like a broken bed frame.

“Storage room on the third floor of our house. We don’t come here often, but it was the first place I thought of,” Stephen says as he walks past Tony and towards the door. “Come on, we should go see Wong and Wanda. They may have found something while we were gone.”

Tony reaches out and touches Stephen’s arm gently. Stephen looks down at him curiously and Tony offers him a small smile. “Thank you.”

Stephen smiles crookedly and leans down, capturing Tony’s lips in a long, slow kiss that makes his toes curl and his heart flutter. When they part for air, Stephen presses their foreheads together. “Anytime,” he says with a wink before walking out the door and leaving Tony a wanting, panting mess.

“Dick,” Tony whispers to no one. He takes a moment to collect himself, wiping the drool from his face, straightening his clothes, and catching his breath before walking out the door and closing it behind him.

Tony heads down the small hallway and quickly descends the stairs, finding himself on the second floor where he assumes the bedrooms are. All the doors are closed and while normally Tony would be nosey, he’s expected downstairs and doesn’t want Stephen to walk in on him exploring. Not yet anyway.

Tony finds the main staircase and goes down it. He leaves their bags on a small end table right next to the curved end of the stair rail so they can’t be missed. He walks into the sitting room and down one more flight of stairs before entering the war room. Stephen is already there and seated at the table with Wong, deep in conversation, while Wanda is curled up in an armchair, looking intently at the book in her hands.

Tony sits down in the chair next to Wanda. The Cloak drifts across the room from wherever it was laying and drapes itself across Tony’s lap like a blanket. “What book are you reading?” he asks curiously.

Wanda looks up and gives Tony a small smile. “I think it’s a book on vampires, but I’m not sure. I don’t know the language. Maybe you know,” she says as she closes the book and holds it out for Tony.

Tony winces. “I don’t like being handed things.”

Wanda wordlessly uncurls herself from her position and sets the book in Tony’s lap. Tony gives her a grateful smile as he picks up the book and inspects the title. He groans loudly and bangs his head against the back of the chair once he recognizes the language.

“Tony what’s wrong?” Stephen asks sounding concerned.

Tony lifts up his head and finds that all eyes are on him—even the Cloak’s. He sighs heavily. “ . . . I know someone who can translate this.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original draft of chapter 4 was so long that I had to spilt it into two. I hope you guys enjoy!

Rhodey steps through the portal that Stephen made looking confused as fuck. Tony had texted only minutes before to ask if he was home and after receiving a ‘yes’ told him not to freak out at what he was about to see. The portal closes and fizzes out into orange sparks behind Rhodey as his eyes slowly rake over everyone before landing on Tony.

Tony gives him a hesitant smile, which isn’t returned. “I can explain.”

Rhodey crosses his arms, silently awaiting said explanation.

Tony racks his brain, trying to come up with something to tell Rhodey without revealing his attack, but comes up empty. “Rhodey, this is Wanda, Wong, and Stephen. They practice the Mystic Arts.”

Rhodey remains silent though he perks up slightly at Stephen’s name. Wanda shuffles awkwardly while Wong looks as if his patience is running thin. Stephen is wearing a neutral expression and Tony wishes that he could read his mind since he’s starting to break out into a cold sweat from Rhodey’s scrutiny.

“So,” Rhodey says after what feels like hours of silence. “Your boyfriend is a magician.”

“Technically, he’s a wizard,” Tony responds.

“Actually, I’m a sorcerer,” Stephen chimes in.

Wong sighs heavily. “Tony is under the impression that you are able to translate this text,” he says as he hands Rhodey the book Wanda was looking at earlier.

Rhodey takes the book and looks at the front cover. “Yeah I know this language, it’s Georgian—wait, vampires? I thought they were made up?”

“They’re not,” Wanda says. “There’s a vampire in Bled that we’re trying to track down. A couple nights ago, it killed three people and attacked Tony—”

“You were attacked?” Rhodey exclaims. “See, I _knew_ your ass was lying the other day. Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”

Tony looks away from Rhodey, not wanting to meet his eyes. “I didn’t want you to worry about me.”

Rhodey sighs. “You idiot. We’re friends, I’m always gonna worry,” he says before turning to Wong. “I’ll help with the translation if only to make sure Tony’s dumbass doesn’t get into any more trouble. Do you have a pen and some paper?”

“On the table over here,” Wong says as he leads Rhodey to the table where they sit down together and immediately begin working.

“I’m sorry,” Wanda says genuinely apologetic. “I didn’t realize it was a secret since you brought him here.”

Tony shrugs. “It’s fine. He was probably going to grill me tonight and find out anyway.”

Wanda gives Tony a small smile before moving to join Rhodey and Wong at the table. In all honesty, Tony is a bit annoyed that Wanda revealed his attack prematurely, but Rhodey’s reaction would’ve been worse if his favorite wizards weren’t here as buffer. He probably would have called Pepper and Happy so they could all yell at him together.

Stephen places a hand on Tony’s lower back before leaning in so they can’t be overheard. “That went well,” he whispers.

Tony smiles to himself. “You’re not off the hook, you know. He’s going to interrogate the _hell_ out of you later.”

“Can’t wait,” Stephen says before walking away and sitting at the table across from Rhodey.

Tony watches Rhodey nod at Stephen in greeting before returning to his translation. This isn’t how Tony imagined them meeting for the first time, but hopefully seeing Stephen now will satisfy Rhodey until after they deal with the vampire. Tony walks to the table and sits down in the only empty chair. He grabs a book from the middle of the table at random and cracks it open only to find that it’s in a language that he can’t understand. He moves to close the book when the words start shifting into English.

Tony looks at the book in amazement before turning to Stephen. “Did you do this?”

“I did,” Stephen confirms. “I can only do it with books where I’m fluent in the language.

“I’m impressed. What else can you do?”

“Plenty. Maybe I’ll show you one day,” Stephen says as he slides a hand onto Tony’s thigh.

Tony covers Stephen’s hand with his own. “Careful or I’ll take you up on your offer.”

“I hope you do.”

Tony smiles playfully and bumps Stephen with his shoulder before returning to his book without removing his hand. He skims the pages and finds that it reiterates a lot of information about vampires that he already knows. The only new piece of information is that some higher vampires actually retain their human appearance while others looks distorted and inhuman much like the vampire that attacked Tony though he isn’t sure if that specific vampire was a higher one or not. He didn’t think to ask while he was being assaulted.

“There’s a page missing,” Rhodey says after roughly an hour and a half of translating. “I was in the middle of reading about vampire attack patterns.”

“That’s a shame. That information would have been useful,” Wanda says as she slumps back into her chair.

“I may have a solution,” Friday says.

Tony reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. “Whatcha got, Fri?”

“I recorded your attack and performed a scan of the vampire. I have it stored in my files,” Friday says as she projects a holographic screen in the air that shows the vampire in detail.

“What the hell? Why didn’t you mention this before?”

“You were clearly traumatized from your attack and I didn’t want the existence of the video to further add to your stress.”

Tony sighs. His girl didn’t mean any harm. She was just looking out for his mental health, which is something that he knows he needs to do more often.

“Friday, can you show us the video?” Rhodey asks.

“And could you send me the results from the scan, please?” Stephen adds.

Friday swaps out the screen as Stephen’s phone chimes. She presses play and Tony tenses at the sight of the vampire that he struggles to fight off from a first person perspective—she must have recorded the attack via Tony’s glasses.

Stephen’s thumb gently strokes Tony’s thigh in a comforting manner, grounding him in the present. On screen, Tony watches as Stephen blasts the vampire and hauls him to his feet. They run into the alley and through the portal to Lake Bled before the video finally stops.

The room is dead silent. Tony blows out a shaky breath and lowers his head so he doesn’t have to meet anyone’s eyes. Instead, he focuses on Stephen’s thumb still stroking his thigh.

“Oh my god,” Wanda says quietly, clearly stunned.

“This is much worse than I initially thought,” Wong says gravely.

“Thank you for saving Tony, Stephen,” Rhodey says sounding close to tears. “And I hope he thanked you too.”

“It was no trouble and yes, he did thank me,” Stephen says. “Good work, Friday.”

“Thank you, Doctor Strange.”

“What do we do now?” Wanda asks as Rhodey buries his head in his hands.

“Friday’s video is a great place to start and it gives us a visual that we can compare and contrast to what we already know,” Wong says. “If everyone is up for it, let’s keep going.”

*

Tony leans back in his chair and hides a yawn behind his hand. It’s nearly midnight, which means they’ve been working for hours now.

Wong closes his book and rises to his feet. “Good work everyone. Let’s get some rest and pick up in the morning.”

“Not me,” Rhodey says without looking up from the text. “I’m on a roll and want to keep translating for a bit longer.”

“Fair enough,” Wong says. He makes a complicated gesture with his hands and opens a portal behind him to the second floor. “Tony, are you going to be staying as well?”

Tony shrugs. “May as well.”

“Stephen, will you show Tony and Rhodey to the spare room when they’re ready?” Wong asks.

Stephen nods. “Of course.”

Wong nods in response before stepping through the portal. He walks down the hallway for a bit before opening a door on his left and stepping through.

Wanda stands and stretches. “Goodnight everyone,” she says before stepping through the still open portal. She walks down the hallway before opening the door across from Wong’s and stepping through.

Stephen takes his hand from Tony’s thigh, which leaves a cold spot, and starts to tidy his work area.

Tony yawns and rolls his shoulders before looking to Rhodey. He’s not happy about how involved Rhodey is now. This vampire is extremely dangerous and the last thing he wants is for Rhodey to be attacked too. Tony would never forgive himself if his best friend got hurt because of him. “Rhodey, are you sure you wanna do this?”

Rhodey looks up from the text and leans his elbows on the table, staring Tony down. “Tony, you were_ attacked_ around the corner from our home and I didn’t even know. I could have lost you—Pepper and Happy could’ve lost you—that night and we’d have never known why. I’m staying.”

Tony gulps heavily and desperately fights the urge to tear up. He stands abruptly, which startles both Rhodey and Stephen. “I’m gonna go to bed. It’s been a long day.”

Stephen looks at Tony suspiciously before rising to his feet as well. “I’ll show you to the spare room. Rhodey, for your reference, if you go through the portal, it’ll be the fourth door on the right, just past Wanda’s room. Her door has her name on it.”

Rhodey nods. “Thanks Stephen. For everything.”

Stephen nods.

Tony steps away from the table and pushes his chair in. “Goodnight Rhodey.”

“Night Tones,” Rhodey says with a small smile before returning to the text.

“Alright, follow me,” Stephen says as he pushes his own chair in. He walks around the table and through the portal with Tony at his side.

“You’re not really gonna make me sleep in the spare room, are you?” Tony asks once Rhodey is out of earshot.

“Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous,” Stephen says as they pass by Wong and Wanda’s rooms before Stephen opens a door on the right and steps through.

Tony follows him and shuts the door behind him. Stephen’s room is quaint and cozy—it’s a decent size too. There’s a queen-sized bed in the center of the room with two hand braces lying on top. There are two tables on either side of the bed—one has a lamp and an alarm clock while the other has a stack of books and papers waiting to be attended to.

There are two doors next to each other on one side of the room, which Tony assumes are the bathroom and closet and hopefully he won’t get those mixed up in the middle of the night again. On the other side, there’s a desk that spans the length of one of the walls with more books stacked on it along with a computer and a digital camera. Above the desk are Stephen’s Bachelor’s, MD, and PHD framed, proudly displaying his status as a Doctor.

There are also an abundance of pictures of Stephen with Christine through various stages of their lives, including at their graduations, her wedding, and with her family. They were obviously close and Tony briefly wonders how close before dismissing that thought entirely. She was a beautiful girl with a nice smile and kind eyes—something that is present in all of her photos. She was taken from the world way before her time and hopefully, Tony will be able to help Stephen find some peace.

The Cloak removes itself from Stephen’s shoulders and drapes itself across Stephen’s computer chair. Stephen makes a complicated gesture with his hands and bathes them both in orange light. When it’s gone, they’re both dressed in a comfortable t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants.

Tony hums. “I could get used to this,” he says as he and Stephen crawl into bed together. Tony lies down on his left side and gets comfortable while Stephen puts on his braces. He yawns and closes his eyes, smiling to himself when Stephen curls around him, pressing his front snug against Tony’s back and resting one braced hand on Tony’s stomach.

“Goodnight Tony,” Stephen says quietly as he lazily waves a hand and turns off the lights.

“Goodnight Stephen,” Tony mumbles, already half asleep. He feels Stephen’s body relax as he drifts off and Tony is about to join him when a thought pops into his head. Earlier, Rhodey referred to Stephen as Tony’s “boyfriend” and neither of them disputed the comment.

Tony smiles wider to himself before drifting off into a deep sleep.

*

Tony’s eyes flutter open and he squints at the bright morning sunlight flooding the room. Stephen is still asleep behind him, his breath deep and even against the top of Tony’s head. Tony sighs contently and closes his eyes. This is the first time in a long time where he’s actually had a good night sleep—no nightmares, no extra curricular, no one trying to rob or kill him in the middle of the night: just him, Stephen, and an extremely comfortable bed. He’s starting to drift back to sleep when Stephen’s breathing changes.

“I know you’re up,” Stephen says before burying his nose in Tony’s hair.

Tony grunts in acknowledgement.

Stephen pokes his fingers into Tony’s stomach. “Come on it’s after seven.”

“Five more minutes . . . please?”

Stephen is silent for a moment before sighing heavily and settling in. “Very well. I could do with a lie in. And please get that satisfied grin off your face.”

“How would you know? You can’t see my face,” Tony says while grinning wildly.

“Call it wizard’s intuition.”

“Ah-ha. So you do admit that you’re a wizard?”

“Go to bed.”

Tony closes his eyes and relaxes back against Stephen, finding that sleep comes easy.

*

When Tony wakes again a few hours later, Stephen is gone. He frowns and rolls over, throwing his arm across the bed. The empty space is still warm so Stephen hasn’t been gone long, but he’s gone all the same. Tony sighs before throwing off the covers and climbing out of bed. He stretches his body, wincing at the amount of creaks and pops he hears. He really hates to admit it, but he’s getting old.

Tony rolls his neck as he rounds the bed and walks up to the pair of doors he saw last night. He rubs his chin before gesturing at the doors. “Eenie meenie mini mo,” he says quietly before selecting the door on the left, which turns out to be the bathroom. “Yay.”

Stephen’s bathroom is a decent size with a separate shower and tub, a toilet, and a large vanity with quartz countertops and a double sink. Between the sinks, there’s a set of spare clothes, some towels, and a toothbrush! With toothpaste! Yes! Now, he doesn’t have to open all of Stephen’s cabinets before he finds some.

Tony goes over to the shower and turns it on. While the water warms up, he goes back over to the vanity and quickly brushes his teeth and tongue before spitting into the sink. He grabs one of the washcloths and walks back to the shower, checking the water, and pulling the handle. He watches as the water runs through the showerhead for a few moments before stepping inside and closing the curtain behind him.

As soon as the water hits Tony’s body, he sighs and closes his eyes. He’s been so exhausted recently and hasn’t been getting enough sleep. His coworkers always said that the end of term consisted of sleepless nights and endless papers to grade, but he didn’t believe them until now. And on top of that, he has to deal with a vampire on the loose and makes sure that he, you know, continues breathing.

Tony shakes his head, dismissing those thoughts. He can worry about the vampire another time when he’s not attempting to relax. He looks around the shower until he spots Stephen’s body wash, picking up the bottle and sniffing it—smells like mangoes. Tony squirts some soap onto his washcloth and quickly washes his body. He rinses off and locates Stephen’s shampoo and conditioner. Thankfully, he’s not one of those people who uses two in one. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it dries out Tony’s hair like a motherfucker and he doesn’t have his favorite grooming cream with him.

Tony rinses his hair and climbs out of the shower before grabbing the big, fluffy white towel from the counter and drying off his body and hair. He walks back to the counter and looks around before finding Stephen’s face soap, a half empty bottle of Erno Laszlo Cleansing Oil. Tony’s never tried it before, but it will do for today.

He quickly washes and dries his face before using a toner and moisturizer. Tony inspects his reflection in the mirror and sees that his hair is looking flat. He looks around Stephen’s counter again and has to stop himself from yelling. Stephen uses the exact same grooming cream that Tony does. Maybe they are meant to be.

Tony styles his hair into its usual fashion and slaps on some deodorant. It’s weird using someone else’s deodorant, but he refuses to go without. He grabs the clothes on the counter—a red shirt that’s a bit tight on him, loose washed out jeans, and a pair of cozy white socks. Stephen didn’t leave any underwear for him, which is fine because wearing his underwear would be even weirder than using his deodorant, but Tony doesn’t mind going commando. If all else fails, he can always use the Cloak. He’s sure it won’t mind too much.

Tony checks his appearance in the mirror one last time before cleaning up the bathroom as best he can by returning all the products to their proper places and throwing the towels in the hamper. He doesn’t know what to do with the clothes he wore yesterday and last night so he throws them in the hamper as well. He can get them another day.

Satisfied with his work, Tony leaves the bathroom and searches for his phone before finding it on the bed, buried under the comforter and dead. Tony huffs out a breath and pockets his phone before leaving Stephen’s room.


End file.
